The NuPenny Toy Store is a small building filled with toys from an alternate retrofuturist universe. You can look through the windows, but you can't open the door to get in.
I've long been fascinated by the NuPenny Toy Store, and by everything else Randy Regier creates (subscribe to his Instagram).
I asked Randy to write a bit about NuPenny, because it has found a new home in a Kansas prairie.
This year is the 11th anniversary of NuPenny Toy Store, beginning in Maine in January of 2010 as an installation in the entrance vestibule of the (closed) Central Maine Power plant in Waterville. NuPenny Toy Store subsequently appeared in Portland and Sanford (Maine), then went on to Wichita, KS. After restructuring into its own free-standing building in 2011, "NuPenny's Last Stand" it went on to appear in Hays and Salina Kansas, Riverside, Ill., Miami, Fl, Bentonville, AK and as a window display in NYC. In 2016 the Last Stand effectively disappeared, and stayed that way for 5 years. This July it has reappeared near Alma, KS, adjacent to the Volland Store, nestled in the heart of the Tall Grass Prairie in the Flint Hills. It will operate here — in its own unique way — until September of this year, and then … head east.
Over the years I have had the good fortune to have many persons share their NuPenny encounter experiences with me, and there are a number of anecdotes that I just cherish. Most recently, just after NuPenny arrived in this prairie pasture, a pair of perfect raccoon paw prints appeared on the front door. At the time of this writing the front door is essentially filled with raccoon nose and paw prints. Additionally, the flattened grass to the Last Stand's left (facing) is from deer sleeping beside it at night.
